Jiayang Xie - UK/China
Jiayang Xie
Designer biography:
Jiayang Xie is a jewellery designer and maker whose work bridges traditional craftsmanship with contemporary design. Educated in both China and the UK, she earned her Master of Arts in Jewellery Design from Central Saint Martins in 2022. Her practice is rooted in reimagining ancient techniques, particularly filigree, by transforming delicate patterns into intricate three-dimensional forms. Inspired by the fluidity of nature and traditional Chinese and Japanese art, Xie’s designs explore the interplay of space, structure, and aesthetics. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at Romanian Jewellery Week and the Goldsmiths’ Craft and Design Council Exhibition. In 2023, she won the prestigious Gold Award at the Gem-A Awards. Xie is committed to reviving the nearly forgotten art of filigree, ensuring it evolves to fit modern lifestyles while preserving its heritage. Through combining fine wire work and gemstone setting, she aims to create jewellery that blends innovation, beauty, and timeless craftsmanship.
Collection concept: Fluid Architectures: Dialogues in Motion and Myth.
This collection interrogates the alchemical tension between human ambition and organic impermanence. ‘Kymatia’ reimagines classical architecture’s undulating rhythms as kinetic silver waves—filigree unchained, dissolving rigid tradition into liquid motion. Here, structure breathes; chains ripple like water, echoing nature’s eternal negotiation with form. ‘The Hug’ distills this duality into an intimate cosmology: wire branches cradle a celestial stone, fusing the grounded warmth of human connection with stardust’s silent pull. Metal becomes root and vine, cradling light in a tender dialogue of growth and serendipity. ‘Babylon Tower’ transmutes this fluidity into mythic allegory—silver threads spiral skyward in openwork filigree, their delicate ascent both monumental and transient. Shadows weave through its lattice like whispers of hubris and hope, reframing Babel’s collapse as a meditation on creation’s fragile beauty. Together, these works chart a journey from earthbound craft to celestial longing: filigree evolves from wearable waves (Kymatia) to arboreal embrace (The Hug), then ascends as fractured monument (Babylon Tower). Metals bend, twist, and reach—not as static adornments, but as metaphors in motion. Ancient techniques (filigree)collide with experimental forms, forging jewelry that questions permanence while celebrating the ephemeral poetry of making.
